A Surprising Morning
by ilovetwilight0513
Summary: Euphemia is trying to find Cornelia to ask a simple question. Set after Suzaku is knighted. There is CorneliaxGuilford, but I thought the Cornelia/Euphy tag made more sense.


Euphemia hurried toward her sister's rooms as soon as she got ready that morning. It was a Sunday, and a slow one, so it was a day off for the princesses and their subordinates. Euphy wanted to go out into the Settlement today, but she had to ask her sister. As sub-Viceroy, she should be able to do whatever she wanted, but she knew Cornelia would just get upset and think she was being careless, and if she was in 'danger' everyone's day off would be ruined. She hadn't spoken to her sister much since Suzaku's recent knighting, but Guilford said she really wasn't that angry. Still, Euphy didn't want their first conversation that wasn't about the _Kururugi incident_ to be her pestering Cornelia with requests and worrying her older sister with security issues. She was taking Suzaku with her, and really hoped Cornelia wouldn't insist on more guards. It was more fun with just the two of them.

She had come up with an argument last night for why she would be safe with just her knight, and was reciting the major points in her head nervously when she opened the door to Cornelia's room. She usually left it unlocked, saying it made it easier for people like Euphy to get to her, and that an assassin wouldn't be stopped by a locked door anyway. The door opened into a living area, decorated with the opulence one would expect of a princess. Euphy was surprised to find it empty, since her sister was always awake before her. Also, she realized suddenly, the room was sort of messy. There were dishes on the coffee table, and clothes on the floor, which was weird since Cornelia usually kept her space tidy. Euphy leaned down to pick up a jacket, and her eyebrows shot up. _It_ _wasn't_ _her sister's jacket_. She looked around at the rest of the room slowly, realizing that about half of the clothes in the room were obviously not Cornelia's. When she caught the gaping expression on her face in a mirror, she blushed. It wasn't her business what Cornelia did, was it? _Or who_, her mind automatically added.

Despite that it was none of her business, she was dying to know what had happened. Cornelia talked about everything with her, but she hadn't mentioned any romance! Euphy looked over the clothes again, wondering if she could figure out who it was. They looked familiar, but they basically added up to a suit, which anyone working in the government bureau might wear. She felt some guilt reaching into the pockets of the jacket, but she reasoned that she and Cornelia were sister's, so they had to protect each other and stuff. It wasn't perfect reasoning, but Cornelia used it on her all the time. One side pocket had a crumpled receipt for coffee. That didn't tell her much. She reached into a breast pocket and was surprised to feel something hard, and oddly shaped. She pulled it out and saw it was a badge.

A badge of knighthood—_Guilford's?_

After her shock wore off, she let out a gasp of indignation. Her sister was a big hypocrite! Cornelia had lectured _her_ on how she should control her feelings for Suzaku, and that it was inappropriate for him to be her knight. How could she do that with _this_ going on! She was so angry that her sister had made her feel so badly about her feelings for Suzaku that she nearly burst into her sister's bedroom, but stopped when she remembered Cornelia wouldn't be alone. She had to get out of here before she did something typically Euphy and embarrassed everyone. She quickly dropped the jacket back on the floor, and reentered the hallway. She would have left, but realized that with the door unlocked anyone could walk in and Cornelia would be embarrassed without Euphy doing anything. Sometimes her sister could be oblivious. Why wouldn't she just lock her door if she was planning something like that! The thought that what had apparently happened may not have been planned conjured the plots of every romance novel Euphy had ever read into her head at once, which was a bit funny, picturing Cornelia and Guilford in one of the over-emotional, ridiculous stories.

Euphy decided she was dubbing this morning the _Guilford Incident_, and she was definitely going to find a way to let Cornelia know that.

Still, she had to protect her sister(and stuff), so she hurried back to her room to retrieve her bag and cellphone. She bumped into Suzaku as she hurried out her door again.

"Excuse me, Princess Euphemia! I was just about to knock," she was leaning against him, as he had kept them both from falling over, and he was now blushing. Euphy tried to see Guilford's face the way Suzaku's was now, blushing and soft and sweet, but she just ended up giggling. Of course, Guilford had a softness to him that she thought went well with her older sister, but he was only like that in private, and she'd never seen him act as open as Suzaku did.

Suzaku was looking weirdly at her, "Something funny, your Highness?" Her knight's baffled expression made her laugh more and soon they were making faces at each other. Suddenly, Euphy remembered why she had been in such a rush before.

"Oh, I have to—I still have to talk to my sister. Could you wait right here, Suzaku?"

"Wouldn't it be better if I came along? Princess Cornelia would probably be more likely to let us go today if she thought I had been guarding you all morning like a good knight. I don't want to seem like I'm slacking off."

"Um, well, how about you come to the door with me, but I think I should talk to her alone. She isn't always pleasant first thing in the morning." That was a total lie, Cornelia was easy to wake up, and never let early hours make her cranky, but Euphy really didn't want Suzaku to know about what had happened. It would make things very awkward between them. Suzaku took her compromise without question. Luckily, they hadn't wasted too much time laughing at each other, or they wouldn't have gotten back to Cornelia's room just in time to see General Dalton's hand about to grasp the doorknob.

"Darlton!" Euphy cried out in a way she hoped didn't sound desperate. He stopped and waited to greet her properly, which was good, but she knew she couldn't use the same excuse she had just used on Suzaku. Darlton had worked with Cornelia too long not to know her morning routine.

"Good morning Princess, Kururugi. Are you here to see the Viceroy as well?" Euphy and Suzaku returned the greeting.

"Yes, Darlton. Cornelia wanted me to, um, talk about something with her privately. Would you mind if I went ahead in first?"

"Ah, well I just need to deliver these files and notes about some of the meetings from yesterday. It will only take a moment." Something in the General's voice made Euphy think he knew she was hiding something.

"Oh, I can do that for you, problem solved!" and before Darlton could protest Euphy had swept the files out of his hands and thrown a 'wait right there, please' to Suzaku before quickly entering her sister's room. She hoped her high rank was enough to keep Darlton from following her in.

It apparently was. Euphy sat down on the couch and called her sister on her phone, which seemed the only decent alternative to invading her sister's bedroom, which she did not want to do. After a few rings, she was worried her sister might not wake up, or that her phone wasn't with her, but that was ridiculous. Cornelia always kept her phone nearby.

"Euphy?" Cornelia had answered, "Is everything alright?" Her sister sounded tired. She must have still been asleep.

"Well, I was going to ask you something, but, well I, I went to...and I..."she kept trailing off as she couldn't find a way to describe her situation. She had already forgotten how angry she had been; she was too focused on warning her sister to get up and get decent.

"What did you do? Is Kururugi with you?" Cornelia was beginning to sound worried, which Euphy didn't want. She thought she heard a "what has he done _now_?" in the background, and she was thoroughly incensed again. Why did everything get blamed on Suzaku now? Apparently Cornelia was worried enough to immediately get up, and although she was at her bedroom door staring at Euphy, her little sister was too mad to notice.

Euphy was still talking into the phone, now angry, "Suzaku didn't do anything. I just came to ask you a question and now I'm trying to keep people out of your room even though you don't deserve it for being a total hypocrite!" As she raised her voice she realized her sister was right in front of her and hung up the phone forcefully, tossing it onto the couch beside her.

"How long has this been going on anyway?" she began again, "You always drag stuff like this out of me like you have to know my feelings but you—" She paused mid-sentence when Guilford appeared in the doorway as well, behind her sister. While Cornelia had her regular robe on, Guilford apparently did not keep clothes in her sister's rooms. He was in his boxers and his hair wasn't tied back, which was way more casual than Euphy ever expected to see him. Euphy figured her expression must be as gaping as it had been in the mirror earlier because her sister exchanged a glace with Guilford which suggested they really wanted to laugh at her. Cornelia stepped forward and sat on the couch with her while Guilford collected clothing from around the room. Euphy was confused to discover he had slippers on, and wondered why on earth he would have them but no other form of sleep-ware or other clothing.

Cornelia interrupted her thoughts, "I _am_ sorry for not talking to you Euphy, but we haven't exactly been talking much lately. How about we go out today? There's hardly anything to do around here." Euphy was still eying Guilford, who seemed content to let Cornelia do all the explaining. He had found an iron somewhere and disappeared back into the bedroom with his clothes.

"No," she mumbled, distracted, "I'm supposed to go into the Settlement with Suzaku today. What's with the slippers?"

"I don't know. You have slippers, don't you? And you have to take more protection than Kururugi. You promised you'd be more careful," she took Euphy's hand in her own, "remember?"

"Yeah, but just slippers? Isn't that weird? Why not have a whole change of clothes?"

"I think we're getting off-topic. How about you can either take two other guards with you or take Guilford along instead?" Ah, there was the Cornelia Euphy knew. Her sister knew this was too awkward for her to want to bring Guilford along today, so she would have to accept the extra protection. She supposed she would just have to give up on a few things. Guilford came back into the room as she agreed to her sister's request. His suit looked perfectly ironed, and showed no signs of having been left all over the floor. How did he do that so fast?

"Are these from Darlton?" Guilford asked, pointing to the pile of documents Euphy had left on the coffee table.

"Oh, of course. They're notes from yesterday's meeting," Euphy had forgotten all about them. Guilford lifted the first few pages and scanned them. Euphy was still feeling embarrassed and flustered, and she turned, almost pouting, at Cornelia.

"Guilford," Cornelia broke the awkward silence that had settled in the room, "Give us a minute. Go bother Kururugi; I'm sure he's right out in the hall?" She looked to her sister for confirmation.

"Of course, Princess. Excuse me," he scooped up a few more pages and left the room. The awkward silence came again as the sisters thought of what to say to each other.

Cornelia started, "I'm sorry about this, Euphy. This hasn't been 'going on' _that _long. I'm sure Guilford has no idea what to say to you." She looked away, and Euphy almost thought her sister might actually be embarrassed. Maybe a little.

"I shouldn't have woken you up," she answered. Cornelia smiled a little.  
"I shouldn't have left the door unlocked," the older sister admitted.

There was another silence. Both ended up staring at the badge which must have fallen out of Guilford's jacket when he picked it up. Euphemia wasn't mad about her sister's relationship as much as she was jealous. Cornelia was apparently uninhibited in her feelings toward her knight. No one was telling her how to feel or what to do, and Guilford helped her as viceroy. Euphy wanted the double relationship that Cornelia had, and was jealous that what she had to give up to make a knight of Suzaku, Cornelia had anyway. She was suddenly regretting making Suzaku her knight. Perhaps, if she hadn't, they would have been able to have more.

"I shouldn't have made Suzaku my knight."

"Don't say that," Cornelia focused on her sister again, "We haven't really talked about it yet, I know. I'm sorry that I seemed so angry at you. It...really wasn't my decision to make. Kururugi isn't exactly my idea of a champion, but I see how determined he is. I don't want this to come between us."

"But I told you before, about how I feel. What am I supposed to do?" Cornelia should have been glad that her sister was finally seeing something wrong with picking the eleven boy as her knight, but she could never stand for Euphy being upset.

"Well, I suppose you were right to call me a hypocrite. I can't tell you how to feel, but I will point out that it is more inappropriate for you to be with a number than with your knight. I don't think this changes anything about your..romantic situation," Cornelia had trouble thinking of her little sister being romantically involved, "I think you're both doing your best right now."

"You really don't mind Suzaku, then?" there were tears of relief in Euphemia's eyes.

Cornelia sighed, "No, he's a very good pilot, and almost as devoted to you as me. There is his naive idealism, but I can't dislike him for wanting justice and all that. To tell you the truth, Guilford was more upset than I was."

"Really?"

"It was his idea for you to appoint a knight, and he compiled the list candidates. He was to oversee the recruitment of your guard, but we can't do that with Kururugi at the center. It's been some time since one of his plans fell apart so completely!" Euphemia looked horrified at this, but Cornelia laughed it off, "I wouldn't worry about it. He isn't mad at you. He's too stubborn to admit it yet, but I'm sure he actually likes Kururugi. Your new knight is too good a soldier for him to ignore, and his devotion puts him in Guilford's favor."

"You're sure he isn't mad anymore?" Euphy glanced cautiously at the door.

"You can ask him yourself if you're not convinced. We should get on with the day, anyway," Cornelia got up suddenly and went to the door. Apparently some lesson had begun with Guilford lecturing Suzaku about how to guard doors. Cornelia seemed right about them getting along. Rather than looking bored or tortured, Suzaku was focused and serious, and Guilford seemed pleased with whatever progress they were making. Both turned and smiled at the Princesses when they realized the door had opened. Euphemia was so relieved that everyone was getting along she almost didn't know what to do.

A/N: So that kind of ended suddenly, but I wasn't sure what to do with it! I hope you liked it. If there was anything that didn't make any sense, please leave a review, or if you have any other ideas for Code Geass one-shots. I'd love to hear 'em.


End file.
